Last week I said to goodbye to Guatemala. These last three months were absolutely amazing.
I didn’t really know how to blog about these last three months, so instead I created a list of 7 things I learned while I lived in Guat and here they are.
1) Patience, grace, forgiveness
Living in a small house with 20 people was tough to say the least. The first month all I wanted to do was be alone because I was always annoyed with something that someone else did. It could have been the littlest thing that set me off in a bad mood. Throughout these last 3 months, the Lord has shown me how to truly love the people I was around. This included patience, grace, and forgiveness. By the second month, I loved being around everyone all the time and would brush the little things off my shoulder. I realized that no one is out to get on my last nerve, it was just all apart of living in community. I learned to have patience with people who were frustrating to me sometimes, to forgive people for the little things and show grace over them, even if they messed up big time.
2) Discipline
We had a lot of downtime in Guatemala. It was easy to waste the day away watching movies on Netflix, or just sleeping all day. Discipline was something I had to have and spending time with the Lord was something I had to keep myself accountable for every single day. It was hard at first, and it’s still something I have to continue to do every single day, but the reward is so great. Spending time in the Word refreshes me and strengthens me when I felt weak.
3) How to build a cinder block wall
I did more than my fair share of construction work in Guat. To say it was hard work was an understatement. I did more than learn how to build a cinder block wall. I learned how to have joy in all that I do. Construction definitely wasn’t my favorite thing to do, but I had some of the best conversations and laughs during these days. I got to know the Guatemalan workers and they were some of my toughest goodbyes. Overall construction was one of my highlights of the last three months.
4) How to show Jesus with a language barrier
Not speaking the same language as the people I encountered could have been extremely frustrating and annoying, but I was able to learn other ways of communication. I learned how to show Jesus by loving those around me, instead of speaking. Simple acts of service and even a smile went a long way. Even attempting to communicate showed that I cared enough to try. The little kids I spent time with showed me their love by sitting on my lap, or taking a bunch of selfies with me. They taught me that you don’t always need words to be an example of Christ and to show others Jesus.
5) How to quiet myself and just listen
The house was always loud, and my mind was never quiet either. I kept asking the Lord to reveal himself to me and to speak to me. I felt frustrated for a while when I didn’t hear anything. One afternoon I spent time on the roof of my favorite cafe, drinking a smoothie and looking over my beautiful city of Antigua. I felt the breeze and the words “Be Still” came over me. I realized that I was asking God to speak to me when I was being too loud to even hear him. I know that I have to continually seek the Lord and to just stop the craziness going on in my mind and just listen!
6) Not to compare
One weekend I was privileged to go to Guatemala City and join another team on my squad, GEN7, for ministry. Monday-Friday they went to the streets and spent time with boys who sleep on mattresses on the side walk and do a lot of drugs. You could see the direct impact of their work in these street boys. It was so cool to be apart of that for a day and to meet all the boys they had such strong relationships with. I began to compare my ministry to theirs. I felt as though what I was doing in Antigua wasn’t as important or impactful as what they were doing in Guatemala City. This was definitely the enemy trying to get a hold of me. The Lord had me exactly where he wanted me to be and I was making an impact, even if I couldn’t see it right away.
7) New plans for after the race!!
I had no plans for after the race. College was not something I necessarily wanted to go to, especially because I had no idea what to study. A few weeks into my time in Guatemala, I started to teach values and morals in an elementary school. I absolutely fell in love with everything about it. Because of this, after the race I will hopefully go to college in Orlando to study Elementary Education and eventually get my TEFL certificate (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) so I can teach overseas. I am continuing to seek the Lord in this so these are tentative plans.
It was so sad leaving Antigua, but It was so exciting arriving in Malaysia, my next destination on the race! Read my next blog for more info about that!!
